Mykl.biz
Consulting Technologist • Translating Geekery into plain English! • Have laptops, will travel • Please contact me via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or Today@Mykl.biz
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Serious CMS
Most serious Content Management Systems are used to develop and maintain content rich web sites that will be around and updated for a long time. So one important criteria for selecting a CMS platform is the likelihood that it will be available and improving for years to come.
You never want to get locked out of your chosen Content Management System, because it went away or the pricing became unreasonable. At a minimum, you want all data stored or backed up to a standard format. (And, it goes without saying, you’ll always keep an offline backup of all your data.)
For serious content management, I tend to favor popular open source platforms. Open source means no owner can take it away from you or cut you off. And if a lot of smart people are working with that platform, it means lots of smart people are constantly making it better. It means a larger pool of plug-ins, extensions and themes from which to draw, if ever the core system doesn’t meet your particular needs. It also means more third parties making it their business to actively support the platform with hosting and other related services. Look to who else is using a Content Management System. If large, stable and tech savvy organizations rely on the same tools as you, you have some reassurance it will be supported and improved in the years ahead.
These are especially important considerations for intermediate to higher end web sites, where you want plenty of room and options to grow. For smaller or short term projects, I’m usually more interested in how quickly and cheaply I can deploy a good looking web site, concerning myself less with its long term prospects.
It all depends on your particular needs. There are dozens of Content Management Systems to choose from. Honestly, it’s hard picking the best one, because the most popular tools are all improving very quickly, frequently adding similar and overlapping features. If you’d like to discuss some possibilities, I invite you to contact me.
What's a Content Management System?
I’ve spent much of this month setting up Content Management Systems (CMS, for short) for clients. What’s a Content Management System, you ask? It is underlying software for a web site which makes it possible for less technical or essentially non-technical people to post, edit and organize the content (words, pictures, videos) of their web site. A useful and properly configured CMS enables content creators (writers, editors, photographers, videographers) to publish their material online, without needing a webmaster or designer to code and layout every page.
In other words, a good CMS makes it easy for ordinary people to update their own web site. Little to no geekery required.
Using the extra dead simple CMS on which this site runs, I’m going to post brief and general descriptions of several relatively low cost Content Management Systems, comparing and contrasting different approaches. Uh, just as soon as I write them. (No one has yet devised a Content Generation System more effective than the human mind — and a cup of coffee. And I’m outta coffee.)
“Notice anything about most of the laptops at this Microsoft-hosted event?”, asks John Gruber.
via
Webmail Without the Web Browser
After trying it for a month, I really like to have Gmail running in a separate application on my Mac. So I bought a copy of Mailplane.
For a modest $25, Gmail no longer gets lost in my dozens of open browser tabs. Now my webmail is only one click away. It’s integrated with my Mac’s Address Book and iLife and more It feels snappier than in my busy browser. It has some other features I haven’t even explored, yet. Best of all, for me, switching between multiple Gmail accounts is just a double-click.
At the same time, the interface is almost exactly the same as Gmail on the web. Thus, when I do need to check Gmail in a web browser, it’s not confusing; everything is in the locations and arrangements to which I’m accustomed. BTW, this is an example of the increasingly blurry distinction between what is on our computer (aka client) and what is on the Internet (in the cloud) — and how the blending of the two can be a good thing.
If you use Gmail and a Mac, you might give Mailplane a try. It’s free for 30 days. And if you don’t like it, nothing is lost. All your email and settings are still — and will remain — saved in Gmail. I’d try it for a week, to grok the difference.
back in the office recovering from festivities
What's a "Consulting Technologist"?
Seeking a tidy title summarizing the services I offer as Mykl.biz, something short yet more specific than “geek” or “consultant” or “writer”, the best I’ve come up with is “Consulting Technologist”. Today I updated my description of Mykl.biz on LinkedIn. Here’s how I’m pitching myself. What do you think? Does it sound like bullshit?
I’ve always sought to mix “old” media with newer technology. I’m perpetually impatient, waiting for real world implementation of promising technologies to catch up with their own potential.
I was the first geek you saw carrying a laptop computer everywhere, because it was a filing cabinet and a personal assistant I could tuck under my arm. I’ve carried my “office” in a backpack ever since.
On the fly, I create custom databases that help me do the work of five people. I can design them for you, too.
I do web design work, for myself and for clients — and to help me speak intelligently with developers I hire for larger projects.
I spend much of my free time reading. I used to read monthly trade magazines to learn about new hardware. Then I followed web sites writing daily about innovative software. Now I read news feeds, chat and share with professionals all over the world, in real time.
Thus informed, and open minded, I tend to see the deeper potential in paradigm changing technology a few years before many people even notice it’s around.
Ben Franklin’s odometer, from Can Do by Maria Kalman
multi-tasking on the front porch
Apple wireless keyboard & mouse $100
This not a bad price for Apple’s attractive and discontinued wireless keyboard & mouse combo. If you prefer a keyboard with full-size keys (unlike the chicklet keys on Apple’s slim aluminum keyboard), this is the most used keyboard in my office. However, the Mighty Mouse is not my most favored pointing device.
